Railways to use PoS system for tickets, parcels

Bengaluru, Dec 21 (IANS) The South Western Railway (SWR) is installing 73 Point of Sale (PoS) systems for booking passenger tickets and parcels at stations and reservation centres in its Bengaluru division to overcome cash crunch post-demonetisation, said a senior official on Wednesday.

“The PoS system is being installed at stations and reservation centres across our division in a phased manner over the next 30 days to ensure passengers do not face difficulty in booking tickets or reserving berths if they don’t have cash to tender the fare or for want of change at the counters,” Bengaluru Divisional Railway Manager Sanjiv Agarwal told IANS here.

The PoS system will enable passengers to pay the fare through their debit or credit cards instead of cash, as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed the Indian Railways not to accept demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes since December 12.

The Indian Railways has tied up with State Bank of India and other state-run banks across the country for the measure.

A retail PoS system consisting a debit/credit card reader and barcode scanner among other things, will be customised for the purpose.

“Though about 60 per cent of advance tickets are booked online through internet and as a result, rush at reservation counters has reduced, the PoS system will ease pressure on those doing it offline but do not have exact cash for the fare,” said Agarwal on the margins of a media interaction.

The division was among the first to introduced over a decade ago the PoS system at seven of its passenger reservation system offices in stations and booking offices.

The PoS system will now be placed at parcel offices in the division’s main stations and junctions too to facilitate freight booking.

With the demonetisation causing hardship for people, the division has witnessed 10 per cent drop in carrying passengers and 20 per cent decline in ferrying parcels since the move announced on November 8.